If it hadn't been for that one simple book that wasn't really a book at all, history may never have known Mary Boykin Chesnut. The book in reference is Mrs. Chesnut's "Diary from Dixie". Dixie was a journal from her accounts as a member of the elite of the old south. She was witness to the major events of the war, both beginning and ending. From the firing at Fort Sumter through the days of Lee's surrender, Mary Chesnut recorded the happenings during this period for posterity's sake. .
Mrs. Chesnut was born Mary Boykin Miller in a small community in Statesburg, SC in 1823. Her mother was quite young at 19 but her father, who had been married before but whose wife had past away, was a South Carolina Senator and had served a term in the U.S. Congress. In fact, Mary's father, Stephen Decatur Miller, introduced what would become the foundation of the "States Rights" party. Her father once again became a Congressman and headed off to Washington D.C. .
While Mary's father was gone, she officially began her schooling in Camden, SC. It was shortly after she had become familiar with Camden, and Camden's elite with her, that she was first introduced to "Colonel Chesnut of Mulberry". She was impressed with the older colonel but the Chesnuts were no stranger to the relatives Mary was staying with in Camden, the Boykin's. In fact, the two families had been friends and hunting companions since the Revolutionary War. As fortune would have it however, the timing was not quite right and in the not too distant future Mary's father had heard of the possible relation between his daughter and the colonel and immediately moved her out of school to Mississippi to be with her mother (this move was common during the period due to over working of the land and the Indians of Alabama and Mississippi being moved further west). As it turns out, fate is much more powerful than fortune. Mary eventually returns to South Carolina where she and James Chesnut would secretly agree to marry.
